The 1979–80 South Alabama Jaguars basketball team represented the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963 and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alaba ...

during the

1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 17, 1979, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1980 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on Mar ...

. The Jaguars were led by head coach

Cliff Ellis Cliff Ellis (born December 5, 1945) is an American former college basketball coach, who finished his career as the head coach at Coastal Carolina University. Ellis finished his career as the ninth winningest coach in NCAA Division I history. Ell ...

, in his fifth year as head coach. They played their home games at the

Mobile Civic Center Mobile Civic Center (formerly Mobile Municipal Auditorium) was a multi-purpose facility located in Mobile, Alabama. Owned by the Mobile, Alabama, City of Mobile and operated by ASM Global, the facility consisted of three venues: a theater, an exp ...

, and were members of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

. South Alabama finished the season 23–6, 12–2 in Sun Belt play to finish in first place. They were upset by Jacksonville in the Sun Belt tournament, but did receive an at-large bid to the 1980 NCAA tournament as the No. 8 seed in the Midwest region. In the opening round, the Jaguars lost to

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

, 70–62.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Sun Belt Conference tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1979-80 South Alabama Jaguars basketball team South Alabama Jaguars men's basketball seasons South Alabama South Alabama South Alabama Jaguars basketball South Alabama Jaguars basketball